Book Review: Beloved Cookbooks

When I think about food, I almost always think about cookbooks.  Specifically, my dog-eared, falling-apart collection spanning two shelves in the living room.

 I don't think it's possible to separate my love for cooking from my love for cookbooks.  I don't even think it's worth trying.

 I think it's worthwhile to spend some time looking at my beloved cookbooks and reflecting on why I love them.  Maybe someone else will fall in love with them too.

Let's begin with my elderly, heavily notated Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking.

 But first I have to go back to Elicia circa 1993, sophomore in college.   I was dating a boy who did a great deal to help develop my palate.  He introduced me to Indian cuisine and sushi, homemade baked goods, and the use of real, whole fat butter and milk.  He also opened up a world of cookbooks and curiosity about food.  His mother was a professional chef, and everyone in the family had what might generously be called an obsession with food.  I was surprised to find that I fit in quite well.

World of the East Vegetarian Cooking fell into my hands, probably from his mother's bookshelf.  On my first visit to the family home, we made paneer (really?  Cheese?  Who knew!) and the famous dish, mutter paneer (homemade cheese and peas in a delicious sauce).  On subsequent visits, I would sit in her bedroom copying recipes on lined paper and leafing through each cookbook.  Of course, I had no idea how to actually cook anything.  That would take years to work out.

World of the East was organized by ingredient and course, with lots of suggestions for menu planning, serving, and of course, the stories and history of each dish.

On Aalan Ka Saag (Kahi with Spinach):  "I have only had this exceedingly tasty and nutritious dish in my family.  It is like a thick soup and is either eaten with Indian breads or with plain rice." Doesn't this make you want to find out what else her family eats?  It does for me.  I also love that the dishes are given in their native pronounciation. It was from Jaffrey that I learned what saag and masoor dal actually mean.  (Spinach and red lentils, if you were wondering).

Most of the recipes give suggestions for reasonable substitutions, but also point out where there are no substitutions available.  Many of the cooking techniques are not difficult or require anything special, but aren't dumbed down or require the use of a microwave.  I can't even begin to name the number of dishes I have learned from this book, not to mention the history and relationships between the many cuisines she writes about.  I should also add that the illustrations are delightful.

My copy is now literally falling apart.  I have notes in the back, copied recipes for Spanish food, taken from my college boyfriend's mother's cookbooks.  I also have terse notes about recipes.  "Add more salt; don't over cook."  "Two teaspoons tamarind paste=better."  I should probably buy a new copy, as this one requires individual pages to be taken out if I actually want to use it, but I love it just the way it is.

At last...

 The Book is FINISHED!!!  It's ordered, and on the way.  Here's a preview of a few pages: (It looks particularly good if you hit the "fullscreen" button on the lower right hand corner.)

Lagos, Montañas, Bicicletas: Patagonia by Elicia Cárdenas & Andy McKerrow | Make Your Own Book

Now I just need to start the next one...

Adventures in Nevada

Andy at Six Mile  Canyon, between Virginia City and a whistle stop on I-50, Nevada 

At the beginning of December, my last day off for about 14 days (not even close to my personal best), we decided to take advantage of having the same day off and go down to Nevada to do chores as well as to go on a road ride.  It was beautiful, cold, glittering, clear.   The canyon was gorgeous, long and deep and full of crazy mineral deposits, new pavement and virtually no traffic.  Unfortunately, it was in the shadows for the ride back, entirely downhill, and I would call it the second coldest ride of my life.  Whoo!

After errands and bike ride, we made the obligatory Trader Joe's run for groceries and called back to the bike shop for advice about a cheap place to eat.  We struck gold.  The Old Roadhouse (can't find a link...that should tell you something about this place) is off of I-50, a cavernous building full of steam rollers, dead animals, an entire fire truck, and a whole lot more besides.  The menu is large and not cheap, but the portions seem to be plentiful.  We lucked out- happy hour with incredibly cheap beer (101 beers on tap!!!) and appetizers for almost nothing.  Having ordered almost everything on the menu, plus beer, our bill amounted to a whopping $17.00.  

Pork sliders, BBQ brisket slider, atomic chicken slider, tostada, quesadilla,
and potato skins at the Roadhouse, Carson City, NV

Will Winter Never Come?

It's mid-December.  We have had one morning of light snow fall.  It's cold-freezing even-but it's not winter.  At least it doesn't feel like it.

Mid December is always a tough time for me.  December 14 is the anniversary of a school shooting that happened nineteen years ago, my freshman year in college.  The guy who I was covering for at the theatre-he was shot and killed, and one of the Spanish professors.  Other friends- taken hostage, shot, maimed, watching their friends gasp out life.  It changed my life, of course it did.  It changed all of our lives.  Every year it affects me differently.  Sometimes I get sad.  Other years, I get angry.  This year, I just got emotional and completely overreacted to everything, screaming at the top of my lungs at 6:00 am until I realized how silly I was being, and settled for gasping sobs alone in the car.  Then I noticed what day it was.  I guess I can forgive myself.

I wish I had pictures, but the land is bare.  There are patches of snow and ice, especially at the ski resort, but the snow is man-made and the ice is windblown.  I managed to end up in a full-time job at the ski resort this year.  Due to a merger with the neighboring hill, there has been a lot of unexpected work.  It's not bad-don't get me wrong.  For the first time in my experience in the ski industry, I feel like I'm respected and compensated fairly for my expertise.  And what I'm doing feels comfortable to me- working with parents and kids, scheduling and training instructors, solving problems along the way.  It's a far cry from barely bringing enough money home to pay the rent, and being so tired every night I collapse.  So that's a plus.

Although there is no snow, my ski season is effectively over before it has begun.  I taught a two hour clinic to new hires, then...my foot hurt so badly I've been icing it (or I ought to be) every night since then.  My doctor, who I've been seeing for a worker's comp claim, said "No Skiing, under any circumstances" until I get in to see the orthopedist.  Of course, with the merger, my claim was somehow closed, causing a month-long Kafka-esque series of emails, phone calls, and forlorn voicemail messages.  I still have not been able to get in to the specialist, but I have hope.

Andy started a job as a manager at a bakery/cafe.  Although he has never worked in food service, I am not surprised to learn that he is really enjoying himself.  It seems like a good place to work, to be honest.  The down side is that the only way I've seen him this entire week was by waking up at the crack of dawn (literally, we left at sunrise, and I returned at sunset) so that we could car pool into work, and thus spend about 30 minutes together between breakfast and the drive.  It was nice.

I have been coming home exhausted and watching favorite movies (the new Star Trek, anyone?  I've seen it three times and it keeps getting better!); snuggling with the cat, and going in the hot tub.

That's right.  We managed to score a hot tub for the winter- a small, portable thing that fits on our back deck and supposedly is very energy efficient.  At first, I was worried about the cost of renting it plus the energy to keep it warm, but now I just don't care.  I love it.  I love being outside under the clear black skies, watching Jupiter and Pleiades, seriously unwinding.

In the good news department, my dog bites are mostly healed and I passed another series of tests for my credential.  Now, I can officially teach in California because I have my authorization for English Language Learners.  It's an easier standard than Oregon requires, but it felt great to take the tests and know that I was amazingly well prepared...and I didn't study at all!

Bummer News

So, I got my results from my Spanish Bilingual tests...I didn't pass.  I also got bitten by a dog last week.  Had to go to the urgent care clinic, and have been in so much pain it's been hard to sleep.  Here is a lovely picture, taken one week after the dog bit me.  The bruising is significantly better.

Not sure what to do now to cheer myself up.  Feeling really, really bummed out, broke, and frustrated.  I worked so hard, and I was so sure I passed the spanish part.  I felt good, confident, in charge.  I was pretty sure I didn't pass the multi-cultural test (because no one passes it the first time...except me, I guess), but I figured the spanish...didn't I work my ass off?  Didn't I spend my savings to go to Mexico to learn how to read and write well enough?  I guess enough wasn't enough.  I can't take the test again until March or May, and I don't know how I'm going to prep for it if being in Mexico wasn't enough.

Depressed.

Honeymoon Pictures

La Playa, San Augustinillo, Oaxaca, México

I know, right?  If this doesn't say honeymoon awesomeness, I don't know what does.

Teeny, Tiny Elicia on horseback on the South Pacific Beach

Cabalgatas, crocodiles, and last days

I am writing from a second story balcony overlooking the South Pacific. Coconut palms and thatch provide shade but even at 10:30 in the morning it is sweltering.

Our bags are packed and we are just enjoying the few
remaining hours before we take a taxi and a plane back to Mexico City. We have been taking taxis, an unheard of luxury in our lives, because we are determined to enjoy our vacation in some comfort.

I have been thinking a lot about the last vacation I took like this. (Note: it WAS NOT a honeymoon!) I went to Costa Rica for two weeks about 8 years ago. I don't think about it much, and I almost never talk about it. It was not a good trip, overall, but now, with reflection, I can see how much I learned from that trip and I think it is worth laying it out. Much of the success of this vacation is a result of all the mistakes I made before. Of course, the fact that I speak Spanish this time and have a much better idea about what to expect after out bike tour is hugely important for the overall fun factor and my traveling companion is top notch.

Some background: I went with Voldemort (an ex, naturally) to spend 10 days in Costa Rica, 1/2 on the Caribbean coast and the other half on the Pacific coast. The first part (which, incidentally I planned) was pretty great. The second half was miserable for so many reasons I can't begin to describe them. Maybe someday I will scan the comic I wrote about it. Suffice it to say that the worst part was not waking up with a four inch cockroach on my chest. (Though that was pretty bad.)

So, some things I have learned:
1) know the seasons, and if you are traveling during busy times, make reservations ahead of time.
2) if you are going to use public transportation, be prepared to be confused and uncomfortable, and don't complain. (Unless your language skills are totally amazing. Then just be uncomfortable.)
3) ask for help. The folks at the hotel or hostel want you to have fun and come back and send your friends. They can call taxis and help with planning. That's what I do in my tourist oriented job.
4) do your homework. Know how to get from the airport or bus station, and know where you are going, at least that first night.
5) this should go without saying, but pack light. Really light. One pair of pants light.
6) don't expect American levels of service.

Now for an altogether more pleasant topic: cabalgatas! (horseback rides)

We went to the ecotourist village co-op to take a boatride through mangrove swamps and visit a protected island with lots and lots of wildlife and crocodiles. (Don't worry, Mom, we were with a guide the whole time.) We saw lots of crocs, learned about exotic animal smuggling, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Then we got on horseback.

We galloped in the south pacific surf past a downed drug plane (though the guide assured me that they really don't have a narco problem, this was just a plane crash) and past shells of dead turtles to a river outlet of fresh, cool water.

We watched a man fish by casting his net, and swam in the amazing outlet. The water was cool and not very deep, until we got near the shore where it turned into warm, almost hot.
It was amazing.

Galloping was hard at first. Although I rode a fair bit as a girl scout, that was a long, long time ago. But on the trip back, my body suddenly remembered where to put my weight and how to balance, and there we were, splashing through the waves and spurring the horses on.
Epic.